Swansea

It’s a beautiful day in Swansea (pronounced Swanzee otherwise no one will understand what you’re saying and was I the only person alive who didn’t know that?) 

I’m staying in a great location; several Asian restaurants within a 10-minute walk and 2 minutes from Joe’s Ice Cream Parlour, long revered as the best in town! I’m also five minutes from the beach and about 15 minutes from Singleton Park. As I explored the many trails and marvelled at the expanse of green there this afternoon, it struck me that this may be the perfect place to revive my running career. But then I realized it would probably take a month to find running shoes. So walking it is, and with miles of beach and the natural beauty I see around me, I’m gonna be busy!

Having said that, I’m feeling a wee bit lonesome today for Cheltenham and my studio apartment next to Lisa, her mom and her dog, a spaniel-poodle mix. (Would that make her a spoodle?) I felt like part of the family there, playing fetch with Poppy when I could get her to let go of the ball, shooting the breeze with Lisa, and gardening with Margaret, Lisa’s 86-year-old mother.

Margaret…not your typical 86-year-old. In fact, she was more like a handyman than an octogenarian, buying and lugging home huge bags of fertilizer and topsoil and spending most of her days in Lisa’s garden, clad in spandex capris and hot pink Crocs. She dug up beds, pulled weeds, moved existing plants and planted new ones, all the while throwing the ball for Poppy to fetch. The two of us pruned the bejesus out of a tree in the back garden one blazing hot afternoon. Then she announced she had to quit early (6 pm) because she had dinner plans…this as I stumbled off to shower and crawl into bed.

So yeah, missing my Cotswold family a little bit but also intrigued by what the next few weeks will bring.